The Yeomen of the Guard

Synopsis

One of the Gilbert and Sullivan light operettas. Includes; The Family Fool, The Merryman and his Maid, A Man Who Would Woo a Fair Maid, Ah Me!, The Philosophic Pill and A Mirage. Colonel Fairfax is sentenced to death on a false charge of sorcery and marries a strolling singer (Elsie) to stop his estate falling into the hands of his evil cousin. But then he escapes the sentence .. To tragic and comic consequence.

Our Review:

19 April 2002

To coincide with the Queen's Golden Jubilee, D'Oyly Carte Opera Company are presenting a double bill of Gilbert & Sullivan at the Savoy Theatre this spring. To coincide with the Budget, they staged the press night of their second offering, The Yeomen of the Guard. And it seems the company have had an increase in their pocket money.

Gone are the makeshift tinsel fairy headdresses of the deliciously camp Iolanthe. Instead, we welcome in full medieval garb and a 'whistles and bells' revolving stage design for this tragicomedy set in the Tower of London.

Our heroine Phoebe (Maria Jones) has taken a fancy to Colonel Fairfax (the wonderfully whimsical Oliver White), one of the Tower's handsome prisoners. By hoodwinking her unwelcome admirer Shadbolt the Jailor (Graham Stone), Phoebe quickly masterminds Fairfax's escape.

All does not go to plan however. Before his break for freedom, the Colonel rashly married another as a final pre-b...

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Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com - 28 April 2002:

Ian Talbot does it again, equalling his Olivier Award nominated Pirates of Penzance with the less frivolous Yeoman of the Guard. Another nomination Mr Talbot's way would come as no surprise....

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